


Bad Dreams

by Talesmaniac89



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddly Dean Winchester, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Dean Winchester, Nightmares, Not Really Character Death, Oneshot, Protective Dean Winchester, Sleeping Dean Winchester, Temporary Character Death, mentions death but not graphic or real, spn onehot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talesmaniac89/pseuds/Talesmaniac89
Summary: You wake up after a pre-hunt nightmare and take a late-night stroll through the bunker to make sure Dean is ok.
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Reader, Dean Winchester/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	Bad Dreams

You were running.

Trying to get to him. To reach him and warn him. To tell him that it was all a trap. Gauging the distance between the two of you, your breaths came a bit easier as you realised you would reach him in time. At this speed, you were closer to him than the danger that lurked just beyond the shadows. He’d be fine, you’d reach him in time, and everything would be fine.

Yet, just as the fear and anxiety in your heart subsided, your reality rebelled against you. Your body was pulled backwards by some unseen force, stuck running toward him, yet not making any ground. As if the concrete floor of the abandoned warehouse had warped into a powerful current, keeping you away from him. Every step you took was fighting against the unseen force of a world that wanted to tear you apart. The shadow was closer to him now, moving steadily towards him as you watched, defeated, on legs that kept running, yet couldn’t bring you to his side.

You opened your mouth to yell, hoping your warning would come in time as the faceless attacker snuck up on him. But no words came out. Desperately, you tried, repeatedly, to call out to him. His name never leaving your lips no matter how much your throat hurt from screaming it. Only the wordless ghost of it staining your lips in bitter defeat. Hot tears streamed down your face as you fought with all you had to get a bit closer. Close enough for him to notice you; to see the warning in your eyes, to sense your fear.

“Dean!”

Your words came just a second too late.

As Dean turned around to face you, that playful smile lingered on his lips for a fraction of a second before the faceless man brought his arm down and mercilessly cut into the man you loved. The hand Dean had lifted in a greeting falling limply to his side. His eyes never left yours as the sparkle of joy in them twisted in shock and pain. As you were forced to watch, unable to turn your head or even blink, you saw the warmth in those gemstone eyes ebbing out slowly, leaving them a cold hollow green. Until he crumpled, in slow-motion, falling to the floor with a dull thud that echoed violently in your head. The first sound to truly register in your mind since you started running.

“No!“

Your panicked scream and the force behind your pain somehow turning the resisting stream of the concrete floor and propelling you forward. Yet, even with your regained speed and control, the faceless murderer was gone by the time you reached Dean’s lifeless body.

Dropping to the floor next to him you felt for a pulse. Your hands shaking as you tried to find any hint of the life ebbing out of the man you loved and into the cold concrete beneath him.

“Oh god, no, no, no,”

Your sobs tore at your heart and throat as your hands jumped from one pulse point to another. Stiff, shaking fingers finding no sign of life, no heartbeat under his quickly cooling skin. It couldn’t be true. You couldn’t lose him. Not like this.

“Don’t leave me… Please Dean, please wake up! I’m begging you,”

Collapsing, your head hit his leather jacket. Your hands finally stilling and curling into the soft cotton of his classic rock shirt. A numb, hollow emptiness filling you as you buried your tear-soaked face in his unmoving chest.

“Hey… Wake up Dean,” Your voice was barely even a whisper as you tried to will the hunter awake, the man you’d fooled yourself into thinking would live forever. Yet his body stayed unresponsive to your pleading words as your tears stained the cotton t-shirt that concealed a no longer beating heart.

“I never even got to tell you I love you,”

—

Shit!

Gasping, you were jolted awake. Your (Y/E/C) eyes darting back and forth from one familiar wall of your bedroom to another for a while, as you tried to locate Dean and the faceless threat. A few minutes, maybe more, passing in your panicked search before you realised it had all just been a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare.

Your body felt uncomfortably cold as the Metallica t-shirt you’d stolen from Dean clung to you from the cold sweat brought on by your nightmare. Wordless verses of pain were tattooed into your skin, with paths of salty tears leaving your cheeks raw and red from their imagined heartbreak. Grabbing at the t-shirt, you tried to peel it of your skin as you focused on calming your shaky breaths. Ragged, and pained as they caught in your chest from the fear that was still coiled inside you.

Calming your frantic breathing you contemplated trying to sleep again. But your mind wouldn’t let you. It was a nightmare, only that. Just the same stupid type of nightmare you always had the night before a hunt. Yet, even though you knew that, you couldn’t go back to sleep before making sure Dean was ok.

You needed to see with your own eyes that he was alive and well. If only so that the image of his limp body lying still on the concrete floor wouldn’t haunt you again that night. And you knew they would. You barely dared to blink, fearing the images that were etched beneath your eyelids.

Throwing off your tangled duvet you twisted and turned your body in the bed until you were sitting upright. Your bare feet resting on the cold concrete floor, keeping you grounded as you took a few more deep breaths trying to shake the awful images. Combing a shaky hand through your tangled hair you squeezed your eyes shut to calm the hurricane of fear and imagined death that raged inside you. You just need to see that he was ok… That was all. Just a quick look and you’d be able to sleep again. Wiping haphazardly at tearstained cheeks, you took another deep shaky breath before pushing yourself off the bed and heading towards your door.

You didn’t bother pulling on any other clothes as you entered the hallway. The frigid air of the bunker a welcome reprieve from the hollow numbness that had followed you from the nightmare into the real world. The big t-shirt clung to you before hanging loosely around your thighs as you carefully moved down the hall with your eyes locked onto Dean’s closed bedroom door. Walking with the soft, careful steps of a trained hunter, your bare feet barely recognized the chill from the concrete floor.

Stopping in front of his door, your eyes stayed on the cold chrome handle. For a short while you just stood there, hand frozen in the air between your torso and the door. Hesitating, your fingers grasped weakly at the chilly air as Dean’s eyes, drained of life, flashed in your mind. The feeling of his cold, unmoving skin still so vivid in your head as you pushed past your fear and gently opened the wooden obstacle that blocked you from seeing that he was safe. That the man that meant more to you than life itself, was alive.

—

It only took a second or two for your eyes to get used to the dark bedroom. Your life as a hunter was full of things that hid in the shadows, out of sight. So years of training had made your eyesight sharper, better, than that of your average civilian. To make you the perfect weapon in a war humanity didn’t know it was waging. Or at least, you could sense what was in front of you until your eyes caught up with the rest of your body. And as your eyes scanned the darkness, you were more grateful than ever for your heightened senses. Letting out an inaudible sigh of relief as you saw Dean sleeping soundly in his bed.

Most of your fear diminished as the last of your nightmare was chased to the back of your mind from seeing the older hunter safe in his bed. Yet, the feeling of his cold skin under your touch was harder to shake. The way his unmoving chest had felt against the palm of your shaking hand was engraved deeper in your fingertips than your own fingerprints.

Contemplating whether or not to leave without ridding yourself of that final fear you stood frozen in the doorway. After a few minutes of silence, Dean’s steady breaths being the only thing filling the space between you, you let your fears and distant memories of heart-breaking loneliness push you towards the edge of his bed. Sure, you could hear him breathe, you knew he was fine. But your terrified mind was past the point of logic. You saw him, you heard him. But without feeling the warmth of his skin under your fingertips, you just couldn’t shake the last of the ‘what ifs’ that kept echoing through your exhausted mind.

Biting your lower lip, you let your hand hover in the air for a few seconds as you looked down at Dean’s sleeping face. The lines of worry that were ever-present lately, all but erased now that he slept. His rugged features looked almost innocent as he relaxed in the comfort of his own mind.

Slowly, almost painfully so, you reached a shaking hand out and softly touched his cheek. The warmth lying beneath the stubble that lightly scratched at your fingertips removing the last of your sadness and fear as you felt a few tears make a new path over your already tear streaked face. Though this time they weren’t tears wept in fear and earth-shattering sadness. This time they were tears of relief, of love. As if your body could no longer hold all the love you held for the man and was slowly releasing it the only way it knew how to.

—

Snapping back to your senses. You shook your head at your own idiotic, and weird behaviour. You shouldn’t be there, hell, you shouldn’t even be awake. As carefully as you could, you started to remove your hand from his cheek. But, just as your last fingertip left behind the warmth of his stubble, Dean’s eyes shot open.

Suddenly aware of your presence, Dean’s body reacted before his mind was even fully awake. The seasoned hunter in him seeing you as a potential threat in his still half-asleep state. Grabbing your wrist tightly, Dean had you restrained and unable to move between one step and the next. His tight grasp, barely even getting the time to squeeze a flinch out of you, before calloused fingers loosened slightly as his eyes finally focused on you.

“(Y/N)? What are you doing in here?” Dean’s voice was rough and deep with sleep as his eyes flicked to the alarm on his bedside table before finding you in the darkness again. The laser red numbers on the electronic clock showing that it was still the middle of the night. Eyes crinkling with sleepy amusement his hand went to his cheek where you had carefully placed your own only moments earlier to calm your fears.

“Couldn’t keep your hands off of me any longer huh?” He added playfully when you didn’t respond. Even in the darkness of the room, you could see his muscles tensing as he waited for the signature playful punch you’d normally throw his way. With your eyes fully used to the lack of light, you could easily see his playful expression change and his brows knotting at your lack of a quick comeback. His green eyes straining to focus on you through the very same darkness, still not as accustomed to it as you, trying to interpret your silence.

Reaching out the free hand that wasn’t still softly holding you by your wrist, he felt around carefully for the light on the bedside table and turned it on. For a split second the worry in his eyes becoming clearer as the small light source illuminated the both of you. Before the burning light searing into your oversensitive eyes became too much and you quickly shut them to keep the source of the discomfort out.

Careful not to let in too much light straight away, you slowly opened your eyes. Letting the light filter a little at a time through your lashes. Though as Dean’s worried features became clearer again, you wished you’d just left them shut. The furrow in his brow deepening as he took in your clearly panicked and pained state. From your messy hair to the slight shake in your limp hands.

“Hey… Sweetheart… What’s wrong?”

The hunter’s voice had lost its playfulness as he eyed you carefully trying to figure out what had happened. His eyes lingered on your drawn features as he scooted up in bed and into a more seated position. As emerald eyes grew darker, you knew he saw it all, your pain, your numbness. And it was hurting him too. After all Dean Winchester was the most loving, selfless man you knew. Yet here you were… Hurting him through your selfish need to check that your bad dreams were just that.

“Have you been crying? Come on (Y/N), talk to me,” He urged softly. The hand still holding onto your wrist tugging on it lightly until you sat down at the edge of his bed.

“It’s nothing, I just… It was just a bad dream,” Your voice was barely a whisper as you focused on the array of weapons displayed in his room. Afraid you would break down if you tried to speak facing those deep green eyes.

“Wanna tell me about it?” Dean asked after a little while, breaking the silence that had been draped over the room and the two of you after your whispered words.

“No, yes… No, not really I guess,” You sighed, dragging your free hand over your face as if you could wipe away the sadness and the exhaustion.

“It’s just… No, don’t worry about it. It was just a dream,”

Trying to shake of his hand, you moved to stand up. You couldn’t face that again. It just hurt too damn much. So, you tried to run away. Yet, Dean kept a tight hold of your wrist, not willing to let you leave when he could still sense so much pain and hurt in you. Tugging you closer to him, Dean lifted his free hand off the bed. Warm, calloused fingers gently brushing the hair out of your face before turning it towards him and cupping your cheek. 

“Hey… It’s me, you can tell me anything. You know that right?” His voice was gentle, as if calming a frightened animal. But his eyes were sincere where they peered into yours.

“You died,”

The words pained you as the forced whisper left your lips. Your red eyes begging him not to pry any further into the bad memories your dream had left you with. He was right in front of you, alive and well, but the mere thought of his body on the cold concrete of the abandoned warehouse was enough to make the fear squeeze down on your heart again.

“No I didn’t (Y/N), I’m still here and I’m not going anywhere,” Dean’s words was a soft whisper. Designed to soothe and calm the still open wounds from the awfully realistic nightmare as he spoke.

“But you did. In the dream… And I couldn’t save you. You just… Your eyes just closed and I never…”

You stopped yourself just in time. Your head fell forward to keep your tired eyes from spilling the truth your lips had almost let slip and to hide the new tears forming in the corner of your eyes as you recalled it all.

“Never what?” Dean gently lifted your head back up carefully with three fingers softly holding onto your chin. An image of him dead on the floor overlapping with the Dean you saw now flashed in your mind as your eyes met his worried ones. The desperate cries of your dream-self playing on repeat as your one big regret echoed in your mind.

“I never got to tell you I loved you,”

The confession wasn’t sweet, like it was in the movies. No, it left you like a broken, pained sob. Your eyes brimming with unwept tears as you confessed to the man you had loved for so long you had forgotten how to do anything else. A different kind of fear hit you as you laid yourself bare in front of this man, deeper and scarier than any nightmare, yet more bearable than watching him die in front of you.

“I honestly love you,” You repeated in a whispered, shaking voice as Dean sat unmoving in front of you. His silence squeezing painfully at your heart and lungs, making it harder to breathe.

“(Y/N), I…” Dean started as your feelings brought him out of his stupor. You shook your head quickly. Breaking free from his light hold on your chin. Stopping him from saying the words that would bring your world crashing down around you.

“You don’t have to say it… I can see it in your eyes,” You chose your words carefully and delivered them in as few breaths as possible. Worried if you spoke to much the unbidden tears would return. Lowering your head again, you took your time studying the grey blanket he used as a duvet, biting down on your lip to keep the tears from spilling as Dean sighed next to you.

Once more his warm palm softly rested on your cheek as he lifted your head back up. His green eyes were not as cold as you had expected. Instead they seemed to light up like the forest on a warm spring day.

“What exactly is it you think you’re seeing in my eyes (Y/N)?” Dean asked. His soft hand not letting go of your cheek as he peered deeper into your own (Y/E/C) eyes. His thumb gently wiping away tears you didn’t know you’d shed.

“I love you too. More than you could even begin to imagine. You’re the reason I can fall asleep at night, knowing that I’ll dream of you. So please don’t brush me away pretending you know how I feel,”

His voice sounded as raw as the words leaving him, and before you properly had a chance to process it all, he leaned down and softly brushed his lips against your own. The ghost of a kiss passing so quickly that you could have thought it was all a dream if the second kiss following closely behind hadn’t convinced you, you were awake. His heat translating into action as his lips crashed against your own in a quickly deepening kiss that tasted slightly of salt and tears. And as one kiss ended, another one replaced it, until all thoughts of your nightmare were lost somewhere in the haze.

“I love you,” Dean whispered breathlessly as he finally pulled away from you.

“And I’m not going anywhere,”

—

You spent the next hour or so wrapped in his arms as you talked about everything and nothing in particular. As if both of you needed to make sure this was real. Dean’s large hand traced patterns on your arm as a comfortable silence filled the air between you. Only broken by quiet confirmations of the other’s presence in the room, and whispered secrets shared in the middle of the night.

Dean glanced over at the alarm by his bedside table again, your eyes following his to see that it was already 6 am. Though it felt like no time had passed at all. Like time itself seized to even matter when you were wrapped in the arms of your hunter.

“Sam’s expecting us to be up and ready to move out for the hunt in three hours,” You said with a soft laugh. The idea of the hunt not seeming so scary now that you were safe in Dean’s arms.

“Well, we’d better make the most out of what little sleep we’ll get then,” Dean’s voice was painted with the same warmth as his smile. His sleepy eyes lingering on you as if he couldn’t begin to fathom how lucky he was.

“You’ll stay here right? I think I’d sleep better with you here,”

“Yeah,” You murmured in agreement; no pre-hunt nightmares could possibly reach you with Dean this close by.

Dean beamed a happy, yet tired smile in your direction before turning off the light and sinking down into the bed beside you. Shifting so that your head rested on his broad, well-defined chest, your fingers gently brushed over his t-shirt where his tattoo was hidden. Lingering to feel the strong and steady heartbeat hiding beneath it.

From right above your head Dean let out a soft chuckle. The warm breath escaping from his lips brushing over your hair, before you craned your neck to look up at him.

“What?” A single yawn slipped out along with the question, as you entwined your legs with his under the blanket. Your eyes already half closed as the comforting warmth of the man you loved threatened to push you over the edge and into dreamland.

“Nothing, I’m just really happy that’s all,” Dean’s smile was soft and careful, like the smile of a shy young boy, as a light blush coated his ears and neck. The honest feelings behind the smile making butterflies dance in your stomach as you smiled sleepily back at him. Your smile only growing as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead that seemed to you like a promise of good dreams. Your eyes falling shut as you rested your head on his chest again.

“Me too,” You murmured sleepily, before the steady beat of his heart lulled you to sleep. You could sleep soundly now; knowing only good dreams were waiting for you with Dean by your side.


End file.
